Kijabe Mudslides

On Friday evening we had some friends over for a game night.  About 7 pm, it started raining... hard.  The rain increased in intensity and about 11 pm our friends (who live 5 houses away) had to be driven home as the rain was so intense.  Everyone had water coming into their houses as the rain was driving sideways and under the roof caps.

The rain persisted all night and we awoke to the news that 3 of the 4 roads out of Kijabe were closed due to several mudslides that had devastated the area.  Some of you live in areas where mudslides are common but we have never seen anything like this before.  Several people's homes washed away during the night.  Many people had homes full of mud and/or water.  One family lost 3 children when their home washed away.  Please pray for them.

Here are some photos:





Many of you know the tunnel that the railroad track runs across to get to Kijabe from Nairobi. It's a tall tunnel - at least 18 feet high. It was blocked with mud and trees everything was flowing over the top.  This is the top of the tunnel.

Here's the tunnel from the Kijabe side blocked by mud and trees and filled halfway up with mud.

Clearing the tunnel.  

View from standing on top of the bridge.

DEEP Mud!

This is the mudslide area that washed down and filled the tunnel.  You can see the large portion of land that washed away.  You can also see Rick, Caleb and Rachel standing on the top of the bridge at the right watching them clear the road.

Here is the road coming from the top, the tunnel is just ahead around the corner.  Water continued to flow down this all day.  The guys here were trying to divert the flow into the valley.

That is one of the water pipes that brings water to Kijabe.  Despite the abundance of rain, we have a water shortage.  

Here is another extensive mud slide just outside the Rift Valley Academy upper gate.  There used to be a security fence across this which washed down the road along with several large trees and boulders.  

Higher up on the RVA mudslide.  

This is what the road looked like on our drive home.  We were thankful for four wheel drive.  

A smaller mudslide across the tracks. Caleb enjoyed the mud with one of his best buddies.